to keep peace yourselves; which leads you to give up your own ways; which leads you to suffer wrong; which spiritually tells you that you must not be easily provoked; which whispers in the secrets of your hearts, that you must hope all things, believe all things, bear all things, endure all things." O! this is a safe and holy guide indeed. Mark its characteristic, friends. And not only peaceable, but gentle, and easy to be entreated. O! that we might be easily entreated, friends; that we might seek for that wisdom which is from above. But there are those who make a high profession, and set up a light of their own imagination, which they call by very high names; and there is very little mercy in them; and they do not understand the words, full of mercy and good fruits. But O!

friends, the tree is known by its fruits; and the guidance of the pure spirit of the Lord Almighty is ever found to be accompanied with that blessed attribute, mercy; and its fruits are good. O! friends, there are some, who speak as if they were guided by an infallible light, whose fruits are not good; their fruits are harsh, bitter, unripe, unwholesome; and they never will promote such fruits as these, the spread of true religion in the world, or the glory of God. But humble yourselves, my dear brethren; come down into that deep valley of humility; drink of that pure stream; submit yourselves to the guidance of your holy Head, who dwells in you by his Spirit;

Do

and then ye will have mercy, and not sacrifice; and then your fruits will be ripe, and sweet, and pleasant to the taste, for the welfare of man, and the glory of God. Well, it seems as if the whole subject was clearly set forth by the apostle James, that most practical writer; and I wish, friends, we were more endued with the contents of these epistles, from beginning to end. Without partiality; there is another characteristic. you want to know how the pure guidance of the divine Spirit is to be distinguished, friends? there is no partiality in it; it leads away from all party spirit; and we know, friends, that party spirit is natural to man. And there are those who think themselves in possession of what they call an infallible guide, who shew forth party spirit; and they are laden with many prejudices; and they do not come forth into the enjoyment of Christian liberty. O! friends, theirs is not the guide of whom we read in Scripture; for as we come under the pure government of the Prince of Peace, dwelling in us by his Spirit, it will divest us of all partiality, and bring us into the broad blaze of gospel liberty, wherein our very souls will be filled with love to all, of every name, who love the Lord Jesus Christ; and at the same time, friends, it will not lead us to sacrifice one tittle or one particle of the law of our God. And here is a point which requires caution; it arises before me; all that is of a party spirit,

all that is of the prejudice of man, must perish; and the sooner it perishes the better, in order to free us from this bondage. Let us take care, friends, that we do not sacrifice one jot or one tittle of the law of our God; and I do believe that the more we come under its influence, the more we shall feel ourselves constrained to bear, in all respects, a consistent and living testimony to the true spirituality and perfection of the glorious gospel dispensation. And finally, my beloved friends, the wisdom which cometh from above is without hypocrisy. O! friends, may we be preserved from hypocrisy. But the eye of my soul seems to be anointed to the view of a possible condition, a condition which we know was pointed out of a sect in days of old, that of the "whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones ;" and in such a state as this there is no religion at all.

Well, my beloved friends, may we all know that the Lord is our shepherd ;-may we know that he hath a right to be our shepherd, because he hath bought us with his blood;-may we know that he guides us by his special providence ;-may we know that he instructs us by the pure, abounding light of scripture;-may we know that he dwells by his Spirit in our hearts, according to the repeated testimony of scripture; there to illuminatethere to instruct,-there to guide us,--there to subdue all our evil propensities,-there to slay the old man,-there to triumph over the serpent, there to carry forward his own

work,- there to make us meet for our heavenly inheritance. And may we all experience this, friends; for we have need to come home to the principle, so often advocated by our fore-fathers, that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

E

SERMON III.

DELIVERED AT A PUBLIC MEETING,

5TH MONTH 13TH, 1832.

"THUS saith the Lord who formed thee, O! Jacob; who made thee, O! Israel; fear not, my servant Jacob, and thou Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring; and they shall grow up as the grass, as the willows by the watercourses and one shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself with the name of Israel; for I am the Lord thy God, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."

And I believe, friends, that there is an encouraging language of this description to be addressed, even in the present day, to the Israel of God; to that Jeshurun whom he hath chosen ; and I trust we have good ground for applying the promise, made to ancient Israel, to the church of the living God in all